Mars, you’ve been warned: Donald Trump launches second term like a rocket

Strap in. Day one of Donald Trump’s second term as president of the United States was by turns fascinating, funny and frightening: the 21st century’s foremost political showman has given us a good glimpse at the next four years.

He spoke of planting a US flag on Mars but failed to plant a kiss on his first lady’s cheek, thanks to the interference of his wife’s strangely funereal hat, and rambled for hours from behind the Resolute desk about his journey back to power and his immediate plans to remake America in his own image. Certainly, he has a mandate to do so: unlike after his previous election victory, he was sworn into office with the support of a clear majority of US voters.

The inauguration made for compelling theatre, but it was with pen in hand in the Oval Office that Trump made the first of the political earthquakes felt with a series of executive orders.

Prime among them was a “full, complete and unconditional” pardon to almost all those convicted of offences in the January 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol Building. “What they’ve done to these people is outrageous,” the US president said. “There’s been nothing like it in the history of our country. Even people that were aggressive ... I think they were outside agitators.”

Never mind that for hours they roamed the Capitol’s inner sanctum, hunting for democratically elected representatives and threatening to kill them.

For Trump, other emergencies abound. He has declared a “national energy emergency” which can be solved only by boosting oil and gas production and throttling investment in a renewables future. He does this after last year was recorded as the hottest year on record, and as temperatures rose 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

The other national emergency was at America’s border with Mexico. Mass deportations were to begin as soon as possible. Illegal immigrants have been painted by Trump over many years as criminals, rapists and murderers. In effect, they were to Trump an infestation, eating away at the heart of the American homeland. This erosion of American standards was also occurring economically through the imports of goods. Trump has indicated he will use the threat of tariffs to bring such countries such as Canada and China into line. What most probably will happen is the price of goods will rise.

Just as you might believe that, of all the US presidents who have come and gone, he might be the one to send men to Mars, it is all too easy to believe he will use his newly reclaimed power to advance his own interests at the expense of the greater good.

Day one featured rambling and ranting, which the world has long learnt to live with. But it also showed Trump’s propensity for retribution, which is far more dangerous territory not only for the US, but the world. The rocket has been launched.

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